Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Acura Entry List Notebook

By IMSA Wire Service

Hot on the heels of last weekend’s spectacular Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now makes its way into Canada for the annual trip to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Sunday’s two-hour and 40-minute Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Acura.

The entry list for this weekend features 36 cars spread across four classes. The Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class features 11 entries, with two LMP2 machines, eight GT Le Mans (GTLM) class entries and 15 cars slated to compete in the GT Daytona (GTD) class).

The race will be televised live on the NBC network beginning at 1 p.m. ET and has the distinction of being IMSA’s first telecast on the “big” NBC network as part of IMSA’s long-term partnership with NBC Sports. IMSA Radio also will have live coverage throughout the weekend on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, with the race call also airing on SiriusXM Radio (Sirius Channel 219, XM 202, Streaming 972).

Without further ado, here’s a closer look at this weekend’s field.

· Jan Magnussen, driver of the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, is the winningest driver at CTMP in this weekend’s field. Magnussen has five class victories dating back to 1999. Three drivers – Oliver Gavin, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun – each have four victories at CTMP.

· Three drivers – Dirk Mueller, Oliver Gavin and Colin Braun – are tied for most pole positions at CTMP with three poles each.

· Corvette Racing has the most CTMP wins in the field with a staggering 11 wins since between 2001 and 2014. CORE autosport is second with six wins, including the team’s first Prototype class and overall win in 2018.

· Porsche is the winningest manufacturer at CTMP with 15 victories, but Chevrolet is close behind with 13.

· There is a strong Canadian contingent of drivers and teams competing on home soil in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix. Cameron Cassels, from Coldstream, British Columbia, is entered in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA LMP2 machine, Toronto’s Dalton Kellett is in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2. This will be the debut race for Kellett, a veteran of Indy Lights competition.

· In the GTD class, Scott Hargrove, from Surrey, B.C., and Zacharie Robichon, from Ottawa, Ontario, are sharing the No. 9 Porsche for the Woodbridge, Ontario-based Pfaff Motorsports team. Two other GTD teams have headquarters in Toronto – AIM Vasser Sullivan, which fields the Nos. 12 and 14 Lexus RC F GT3s and Compass Racing, which fields the No. 76 McLaren 720S GT3.

· Compass Racing is one of two GTD teams returning for the second round of the seven-race WeatherTech Sprint Cup competition for GTD competitors. Paul Holton and Matt Plumb will share Compass’ No. 76 McLaren, while Gar Robinson and Lawson Aschenbach are back in the No. 74 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Both cars last competed in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Detroit last month.

· This weekend’s field will see a few other changes. The No. 19 Moorespeed Audi R8 LMS GT3 will not participate due to damage from a crash during practice last Friday for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Additionally, Bia Figueiredo will co-drive the No. 57 Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank Acura NSX GT3 with Katherine Legge, taking the place of Christina Nielsen, who co-drove with Legge in every previous 2019 GTD race.

· Corvette Racing announced Tuesday afternoon that Marcel Fassler will stand-in for regular driver Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix. Milner injured his hand in an opening-lap incident on Sunday in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Fassler will team with Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 machine.

Previous Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Winning Drivers Since 1999 in 2019 Field (18)
Jan Magnussen (5) – ALMS GTP/Overall – 1999; ALMS GT1 – 2007; ALMS GT2 – 2009; ALMS GT – 2011; GTLM – 2014
Oliver Gavin (4) – ALMS GTS – 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005; ALMS GT – 2011, 2013
Jon Bennett (4) – ALMS PC – 2013; PC – 2015, 2016; P/Overall – 2018
Colin Braun (4) – ALMS PC – 2013; PC – 2015, 2016; P/Overall – 2018
Jeroen Bleekemolen (3) – ALMS GTC – 2013; GTD – 2014, 2018
Patrick Long (2) – ALMS GT2 – 2005; ALMS GT – 2010
Ben Keating (2) – GTD – 2014, 2018
Dane Cameron (2) – P/Overall – 2016, 2017
Ryan Briscoe (2) – GTLM – 2016, 2018
Richard Westbrook (2) – GTLM – 2016, 2018
Dirk Mueller (1) – ALMS GT – 1999
Cooper MacNeil (1) – ALMS GTC – 2013
Antonio Garcia (1) – GTLM – 2014
Ricky Taylor (1) – P/Overall – 2015
Jordan Taylor (1) – P/Overall – 2015
Patrick Pilet (1) – GTLM – 2015
Nick Tandy (1) – GTLM – 2015
Bill Auberlen (1) – GTLM – 2017

Previous Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Pole-Winning Drivers Since 1999 in 2019 Field (11)
Dirk Mueller (3) – ALMS GT2 – 2009; ALMS GT – 2001, 2011
Oliver Gavin (3) – ALMS GTS – 2003, 2004; ALMS GT2 – 2007
Colin Braun (3) – ALMS PC – 2012; PC – 2016; P/Overall – 2018
Jan Magnussen (2) – ALMS GTP/Overall – 1999; ALMS GT – 2012
Jeroen Bleekemolen (2) – ALMS GTC – 2013; GTD – 2014
Ricky Taylor (2) – P/Overall – 2015, 2017
Nick Tandy (2) – GTLM – 2015, 2018
Jonathan Bomarito (1) – ALMS GT – 2013
Tristan Nunez (1) – P/Overall – 2016
Antonio Garcia (1) – GTLM – 2016
Jack Hawksworth (1) – GTD – 2018

Previous Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Winning Teams Since 1999 in 2019 Field (7)
Corvette Racing (11) – ALMS GTS – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; ALMS GT2 – 2009; ALMS GT – 2011, 2013; GTLM – 2014
CORE autosport (6) – ALMS PC – 2011, 2013; PC – 2015, 2016; GTLM – 2015; P/Overall – 2018
Action Express Racing (2) – P/Overall – 2016, 2017
Chip Ganassi Racing (2) – GTLM – 2016, 2018
Wayne Taylor Racing (1) – P/Overall – 2015
Turner Motorsport (1) – GTD – 2016
BMW Team RLL (1) – GTLM – 2017

Previous Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Winning Manufacturers Since 1999 in 2019 Field (10)
Porsche – 15
Chevrolet – 13
Audi – 4
Ferrari – 4
Acura – 3
BMW – 3
Ford – 3
Nissan – 1
Cadillac – 1
Mercedes-AMG – 1